Misleading food! What did you underestimate?

My friends and I were out all night driving home, and decided to stop at Ihop. Not the healthiest choice :P. phone was dead so no mfp . So I chose a GARDEN OMLETTE. Literally, tomatoes, peppers, onions mushrooms and cheddar...so i got home and checked....how is that 920 calories?! Crazy. I thought maybe 500 calories and that was pushing it. What are some foods you underestimated?

I haven't read the entire thread, so I don't know if this has been answered yet. But IHOP puts pancake batter in all of their regular omelettes. The only ones that don't have the pancake batter in them are the ones from the light and fit menu (or whatever it's called).

OMG...Pancake Batter in an omelette !!! WTF!!!

For everyone who hates how quickly ice cream calories add up, try this! http://www.arcticzero.com/

I found it at my local supermarket (unfortunately I haven't found it anywhere else yet). Its gluten, and fat free! A whole pint is only about 20g of carbs and sugar, and 150 calories! Leave it out of the freezer for about 10 minutes so its melts a little, then use a spoon to swirl and mix it up. Its doesnt taste as good as ice cream at first (obviously) but I swear after about a month, I love the flavor and don't miss all the other ice cream choices. You can even throw a scoop of peanut butter and its still not as bad as regular ice cream!

Thanks for the tip! I searched it and the website says that all 3 grocery stores in my town sell this stuff... I am gonna check it out! Ice Cream is my Achilles heal. Just love it!

Also you might want to try the Skinny Cow brand - lots of different options there between 100-160 cals/serving (bars, cones, etc...).

Ice cream is my problem area - Baskin Robbins - Jamocha Almond Fudge - OMG - I can probably eat the entire "ready pack" container - very difficult to measure at home. I do the kiddie size cup when I take the kids for ice cream, otherwise I am in trouble, lol.

Chia seeds! 1 tbsp is like 60 cals

I logged Pick up Stix, Pad Thai today before I even entered the restaurant to order. Planning ahead made me happy. While I was finishing up my delicous 670 calories lunch, I noticed on the menu (which I didn't look at becuase I already knew what I wanted and didn't want to be tempted by those cream cheese wontons)... I see the number 2 in parathesis next to the 670 cals... well.... looks like I'll be working on my fitness an extra long time tonight because my pad thai was 2 servings!! What a bummer! I need to make sure I alwasy double check what MFP has in their datebase before consuming. Lesson learned!

Cheese*. It's amazing how many calories you can save by leaving off cheese. And granola.

* By cheese, I mean the gross shreddy kind that comes on a bed of wilted lettuce and doesn't add anything but fillers and calories. Give me a good hunk of parmesan or slab of brie with some crackers and wine and I'll find a way to fit those calories in any day.

I hear ya about Chia seeds!

Today, our office catered Chick Fil A and had salads... I got the greens and the Apple Cider Vinaigrette -- thinking I was being good.... OMG. 230 Calories, 19 grams of fat, 16 grams of carbs and 15 grams of sugar om one 2 tbsp packet!

A tip for you ice cream junkies:
I've been making my own ice cream using the ice cream in a bag method (using 1 bag with ingredients for the ice cream and 1 bag has crushed ice and salt. You put the ice cream mixture bag inside the ice bag and shake until it becomes frozen-ish) instead of cream I use milk and stevia instead of sugar. Today I made chocolate "ice cream" using just 1% milk, vanilla, stevia, and cocoa powder. It turned out really good. Sure it isn't as good as the real deal, but it at least gets rid of the craving for me.

http://www.tablespoon.com/recipes/ice-cream-in-a-bag-recipe/1/
Here's the recipe I used with more specific instructions. Just replace the cream and sugar with your desired healthier alternative and get shaking! This could be made in so many different flavors.

I learned that the pre-portioned packages of the frozen fish I buy are NOT the weight of the portion listed on the package.
It says that the per portion calories are for a 150 g piece but every piece is over 200 g making the calorie count higher. (obviously )
Now I weigh each piece and figure it out from there.

My frozen fruits and veggies ... same thing. The portion size is listed as a cup/gram measurement but when I measure out a cup on the scale it's frequently much more than what it says the grams should be for that size.

The Dole mandarin fruit cups are listed as being 107 g but in reality weigh 120 g. Not a huge difference but if every food you're calculating has the wrong information, you can seriously be off course over a day.

I learned that the pre-portioned packages of the frozen fish I buy are NOT the weight of the portion listed on the package.
It says that the per portion calories are for a 150 g piece but every piece is over 200 g making the calorie count higher. (obviously )
Now I weigh each piece and figure it out from there.

My frozen fruits and veggies ... same thing. The portion size is listed as a cup/gram measurement but when I measure out a cup on the scale it's frequently much more than what it says the grams should be for that size.

The Dole mandarin fruit cups are listed as being 107 g but in reality weigh 120 g. Not a huge difference but if every food you're calculating has the wrong information, you can seriously be off course over a day.

Wow, I haven't been weighing the fish either - think I will make sure i do that now. But I NEVER trust the cup to weight measurement, I always weigh. Are you deducting the weight of the packaging for the Dole cups? I ask, because that is something I occasionally forget to do! I also noticed that most canned or packaged fruit that says "in fruit juice" does NOT mean in it's own juice - usually it is in grape juice and pretty much doubles the calorie count. I have found one source of mandarins in their own juice which works out to about 80 cals for the whole can, where the ones packed in grape juice are 80 cals for a container half the size. And "light syrup" is just crazy calories!

My friends and I were out all night driving home, and decided to stop at Ihop. Not the healthiest choice :P. phone was dead so no mfp . So I chose a GARDEN OMLETTE. Literally, tomatoes, peppers, onions mushrooms and cheddar...so i got home and checked....how is that 920 calories?! Crazy. I thought maybe 500 calories and that was pushing it. What are some foods you underestimated?

I haven't read the whole thread so not sure if it's been pointed out, but iHop uses pancake batter in their omelets! Add 3 more eggs to that and full fat cheese - yep, 900+ calories sounds about right!

Ihop adds pancake batter to their eggs, it supposedly makes them keep shape better. That's where all the calories are from.

Pretty much everything at Islands. What do people order there? :-/

Ok, here is an example from their website: Garden salad, ingredients: SALAD MIX (ICEBERG, ROMAINE, RED CABBAGE); SALAD DRESSING (ITALIAN); TOMATO; CARROTS; CROUTONS

Calories: 1330

HOW IS THAT POSSIBLE?!

Fish and Chips! Now, It's deep fried fish and deep fried potatoes with tartar sauce on top so I KNEW it was unhealthy and way way over a regular meal caloric count. I would never choose it as a healthy choice, obviously. But it's like 1500 calories. Yikes. That sucks. Also olive oil. Though I eat it because it's good for me. OH. And granola. Dear lord.

I actually usually overestimate things. Wine, bread, potatoes, cheese, mayonnaise. I always think they're worse than they are. All in moderation!

Pasta, rice..... Those two are pretty much off limits now. I always knew they were high cal, but its crazy that something so plain, so tasteless, can have double the calories of whatever you serve it with!

^This.

And cafe scones - 800 calories for one of those oversized bstards!!